Stuff treatment apparatus



July 20, 1937. c. P. TOLMAN STUFF TREATMENT APPARATUS Original Filed March 28, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Charles P Tolman ATTO R N EYS July 20, 1937. c, TQLMAN 2,087,558

STUFF TREATMENT APPARATUS Original Filed March 28, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Charles 1 Tolman ATTORNEYS July 2Q, 1937.. c. P. TOLMAN STUFF TREATMENT APPARATUS Original Filed March 28, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 \NVENTOR Charles P Elm/an BY .Fufiy 20, 193?. c, TOLMANV 2,087,558

STUFF TREATMENT APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed March 28, 1934 lNVENTQR Chad P Tolman BY ATTORNEY Patented July 20, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STUFF TREATMENT APPARATUS tion of New York Original application March 28, 1934, Serial No.

Divided and this application January 12, 1937, Serial No. 120,314

18 Claims.

The present invention relates to an improvement in apparatus for stuff treatment wherein the material to be treated is passed in fiuid form or in a fiuid medium through a treatment zone and there subjected to suitable forces for producing the desired change of condition.

One object of my invention, in so far as it relates to treating fibrous cellulose material for making paper, board, or the like, has been to provide apparatus for defibering and finishing the stock wherein the character and/or extent of treatment thereof may be effectively controlled to produce a product having materially improved quality as compared to stocks treated in beaters of the Hollander or Jordan types for example. For a summary of more recent hypotheses bearing on cellulose treatment phenomena in paper making, I refer to a pamphlet by W. Boyd Campbell, entitled The Cellulose Water Relationship in Paper Making, published 1933 by the Department of the Interior, Canada. In View of conflicting theories as to what takes place in preparing pulp for the paper or board machine, i. e. whether the effect is chemical and therefore hydration, or physical and therefore fibrillation and/or wetting or a combination of. these, I employ the term finishing to designate generically the treatment applied to pulp or the like at the beater stage, it being understood, however, that the term is also used by me to include analogous treatment of other substances.

In accordance with my invention where fibrous cellulose material of suitable consistency in a fluid medium is treated, I deliver a supply of the stock under pressure into contact with a portion of the peripheral surface of a high speed rotor provided with transverse peripheral grooves. For effective operation, the feed pressure used is sufficient to overcome the centrifugal counterforce developed by rotation at high speeds, i. e. of the order of 5000 feet per minute or more. A quantity of stock is thus forced into each rotor groove and carried by the rotor into a film shearing gap or treating zone preferably formed between the rotor periphery and a suitable stator or stators spaced therefrom a distance of the order of .005 of an inch or less. In this zone the entire contents of each groove are subjected to a uniformly effective defibering and finishing action under pressure and then discharged from the treatment zone with sudden or material decrease of pressure. Characteristics of this mode of operation are, in general, that for a given rotor speed .the capacity or rate'of throughput for stock of given consistency varies with the feed pressure; that for a given feed pressure the character and/or degree of finishing varies with the zone or gap pressure and/or the extent or length of the zone or gap; that the amount of cutting or shortening of the fibres is uniformly negligible compared to the amount of. fibrillation and/or wetting or hydration, whatever the feed and/or gap or zone pressures employed; and that defibering, i. e. the breaking down of bundles of fibers into smaller groups or single fibers, is a constant factor regardless of the degree or character of wetting or hydration.

In view of the widely varying peculiarities of different kinds of stocks and the different treatment characteristics required for various ultimate products, my method further includes testing the treated material and then adjusting the feed and/or gap or zone pressure and/or length of gap or zone to increase or diminish the extent of finishing required to render the material suitable for its intended purpose. The gap or zone pressure may be adjusted by regulating the rotor speed, by increasing or decreasing pressure on the stator, or in any other suitable manner.

To summarize therefore, my invention so far as it relates generally to the treatment of fibrous materials in a fluid medium includes broadly apparatus wherein means are provided for subjecting a supply of. the stock .to initial or feed pressure, removing successively presented small portions of the supply from the initial or feed pressure condition to a treatment zone, and there subjecting said separated small portions simultaneously to treating forces under increased pressure to effect defibering, wetting and/or hydration, and fibrillation substantially without cutting or shortening of the fibers. If the circumstances require, a further operative step includes testing a treated portion of the material and adjusting the time of treatment and/or the feed or gap 01 zone pressure to change the character and/or degree of treatment.

This application is a divisional of my pending application Serial No. 717,717 filed March 28, 1934 for Stuff treatment apparatus.

One object among others of my invention has been to provide in a stuff treatment machine to which material is fed under pressure and treated under pressure, means for effectively opposing excessive leakage, as between the rotor and the stator and as between adjacent stators where the apparatus embodies a plurality thereof or where spacing blocks or auxiliary inlet units or both are interposed between stator units. It is a further object of my invention to provide suitable construction whereby that portion of the material or medium which leaks out of the machine is collected and discharged along with or separately from the finished product as desired.

One embodiment of apparatus adapted for use in connection with the treatment or preparation of paper stock or the like is illustrated in the accompanying drawings attached to and forming a part of the present specification and in which- Figure l is a front end elevation with outer parts thereof removed to disclose interior portions and with other structural features shown in vertical section;

Figure 2, a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3, a view partly in vertical section of a modified form of mill with a trash discharge device and shoe pressure control devices;

Figure 4, a horizontal section on the line 4--4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5, a side elevation of a form of stator unit and fluid pressure connections thereto employed in the construction shown in Figure 3;

Figure 6, a longitudinal section illustrating interior portions of the removable stator unit in Figure 1, including the controllably adjustable shoe and hand operated control valve;

Figure 7, a vertical section on the line 1-1 of Figure 6;

Figure 8, a section on the line 8-8 of Figure 6; and

Figure 9, a section on the line 99 of Figure 6.

In the machines shown in the drawings, Figure 1, a rotor I, having peripheral grooves 31, is mounted to rotate in the direction of the arrow, Figure 1, in a superstructure supported on a base 2 and, is driven through shaft 8 by a motor or other power source, not shown. Shaft 8 is journaled in bearings 4 mounted in spiders 5, one of which is opposite a front frame 6 and the other of which is opposite a rear frame I, said frames being spaced apart by suitable means, as, at thebottom, by a casting 8 and at the top by a spacer 9. A tie bolt l0 passes through upper portions of both frames and the spacer 8. Another tie bolt |4, Figure 1, passes through lower portions of said frames and through said'casting 8.

The inner face of frame 6 forms an annular shoulder II and the inner face of frame 1 forms an annular shoulder 2. Bolts l8 secure the spacer 8 in operative position between the frames 6 and 1. As shown in Figure 1, the mill is provided with a plurality of radially arranged stator units removably mounted between frames 8 and I and including cylinder caps l5 secured to the shoulders I I and 2 by bolts |1 passing through the portions of cylinder blocks l8. Each stator unit (Figures 6 to 9 inclusive), also includes a shoe carrier i8 movable in a radial direction toward and from rotor I and having a dove-tail slot I9 adapted to releasabiy retain a shoe, as 28 or 2|. The shoe 20, hereinafter designated the first shoe, is preferably of suitable metal and fitted with a projecting nose 22. The shoes 2| may be made of wood, metal or other suitable material, depending on the conditions of use.

The working faces of the shoes may be continuous or plain, Figure 3, for some purposes, or, as shown in Figure 1 may be provided with grooves 205. It has been found that with the grooved shoe a greater amount of power can be effectively applied to the same character of stock under treatment.

In the space between the first shoe 20 and the last shoe 2|, suitably formed castings provide a feed inlet chamber or passage 23, a stock discharge or outlet passage or chamber 24, and a trash discharge passage or chamber 25. The inlet chamber 28 communicates with a feed inlet opening 26 at one side of the base 2 and the discharge chamber 24 communicates with a discharge opening 21 near the front end of the base.

- A drain opening 28, in base 2, connects with the trash discharge passage 20 and also receives waste or leakage through seal ring drain passages 28, 30, 8| (Figure 2), and other drain passages 82 and 80 (Figure 1). A removable cover 34 closes an opening into the feed inlet chamber 23 and a removable cover 80 closes an opening into the discharge passage or chamber 24. A doctor bar 88 extends across said chamber opposite the last shoe 2| and is adjustable toward and from the rotor periphery. Another transverse bar 38 is mounted in the feed chamber 28 opposite the first shoe, 20 and is adjustable toward and from the rotor periphery. A small chamber 88 between said bars 26 and 38 connects with the drain passage 8| through openings or ducts 40.

opening passage 80' and closing passage 30 by means of plug 201, the leakage material runs into the stock discharge chamber.

As indicated more clearly in Figure 2, seal rings 4| are held in position by adjusting bolts 42 opposite peripheral edge portions of rotor l which are provided with radial grooves 48. During rapid rotation of the rotor I counter-pressure develops in grooves 48 to oppose leakage from the rotor ends without the use of packing or of frictional contact between the rotor and rings 4|.

As seen more clearly in Figures 7, 8 and 9, undercut grooves 44 are provided in the sides and ends of stator cylinder blocks l5 which, by intercepting solid particles, bring about the formation of leak opposing barriers between the contiguous surfaces of said blocks and between the ends of the blocks and adjacent surfaces of the front and rear frames. Similar grooves 45' arranged vertically on the ends of shoes 88, Figure 3, perform a similar function.-

In normal operation of a mill of the type thus far described, the furnish or material for treatment, where it comprises up to 10% of wood pulp in water for example, is forced in a continuous supply under suitable pressure through inlet opening 28 and feed chamber 23 into contact with the grooved periphery of rotor l which, in a preferred embodiment, attains a peripheral speed of about 12,000 feet per minute. Particles of suitable size are forced by the feed pressure into the peripheral grooves 81 each of which, in the mill as shown in Figure 1, is around inch wide, decreasing in depth rearwardly from a maximum of approximately .08 inch near its leading edge to the land between its rear edge and the next groove and defining a substantially stream line contour of the leading face of the land which is believed to produce a combined scouring and wiping effect in operation. It will be understood that these dimensions and the shape of the grooves may be varied to meet different conditions of use. During rotation, each groove of the rotor, as it passes the feed chamber 28, picks up a small amount of pulp, de-

pending on the amount of the feed pressure, which therefore determines the mill's capacity or rate of throughput, and carries it into the treatment zone or shearing gap where it is subjected to the intended treatment, provided the material presented is of suitable size to pass the inlet opening to said zone.

In the modified form of mill shown in Figure 3, a peripherally grooved rotor 6| is mounted in treatment zone or shearing gap forming relation to individually adjustable stators 62 provided with removable shoes 63. A suitably shaped casting provides a stuff inlet chamber 64 having a lateral inlet opening 65. Material to be treated, i. e., pulp is fed into said chamber under suitable pressure, and subjected to treatment in the shearing gap or between the rotor periphery and the shoes 63. The finished stock is discharged into chamber 66, portions thereof being guided by a doctor 61 supported at the end of a doctor plate 68. A discharge opening or delivery spout 69 receives and discharges the treated product from the mill.

As applied to the preparation, refining or finishing of fibrous cellulose material in paper and board manufacture, apparatus of the various types shown in Figures 1 and 2, when operated in connection with suitable methods, provides a stock refining action which produces a high degree of wetting in relation to the amount of cutting. For practical purposes, it may be said that the apparatus produces wetting without cutting, the reduction in fiber length being so small as to be negligible. In this respect said apparatus is free from the operating limitations inherent in machines of the Hollander and Jordan types and others in which increased wetting efiect is always accompanied by increased cutting.

One kind of treatment zone-pressure control involves manual operation of fiuid pressure means for raising and lowering each shoe individually and independently of the others, Figure 5. Another kind of control involves automatic operation of fluid pressure shoe raising and lowering means in response to pressure variations in the feed chamber 23, and may affect all or any group or groups of the shoes either in the same or in different degrees. This teature is particularly useful in a multiple shoe machine where hand adjustment of shoe pressure in response to feed pressure variations, indicated on a pressure gauge, for example, might under many circumstances be inadequate. However, fora single shoe machine, or in a mill having a moderate number of shoes, the hand control by reference to gauge indicated feed pressure variations is satisfactory under suitable conditions.

In the treatment of sulphite pulp, for example,

this being one of many uses for which a mill embodying my improvements may be employed, feed pressures of from to 35 pounds have been used with hydraulic pressures of from 30 to 100 pounds per square inch applied to the shoes through the pistons, and thence to the stuff under treatment in the treatment zone, these figures being illustrative and in no sense intended as limitations.

Under some conditions of use, as where the shoe position and the shoe pressure are controlled entirely by hand operation of valve or cook 82 for single shoes, or by a four way valve I05, Figure 5, the pressure supply pipes aforesaid, or their equivalent, are connected with a common main or otherwise supplied with fluid at suitable pressure. Where simultaneous control of single shoes or groups of shoes is required and provision is made for applying difierent pressures to difierent shoes or groups of shoes, as in a multiple shoe machine, said supply pipes will preferably connect directly or indirectly with a main, each through a suitable and separate pressure regulating mechanism. A

For most efiicient operation, apparatus of the kind described will preferably be supplied with stuff by feed mechanisms capable of delivering the material into feed chamber 23 at a substantially constant pressure. Means are also provided for adjusting such devices to feed stuff substantially constantly at difl'erent pressures within a suitably wide range. These controls relate particularly to the mill capacity or rate of throughput. So far as the feed pressure is regulatable over a wide range, the mill capacity is widely flexible and capable of satisfying different volume demands; and so far as the controls maintain a given pressure substantially constant, the capacity or throughput remains substantially uniform. In the refining, finishing or wetting of wood pulp, for example, these features are especially important, both in actual production and in their relation to economy in plant equipment.

I have found that by employing my apparatus hereinabove described in the preparation of paper stock, I have produced an intermediate product having novel properties which present material advantages in paper manufacture and the like. For example, the described treatment permits the refining, wetting, or finishing of pulp to be carried to any desired degree without cutting or reducing the fiber length, which means that hydration or wetting may be effected independently of cutting. If for any given paper machine or paper product, more cutting is needed to facilitate sheet formation after the stock has reached approximately the desired degree of wetting, this can be done by a relatively short treatment ina Jordan or other cutting machine, or the required amount of a shorter fibered pulp may be added to the run either before or after the wetting or finishing treatment.

Furthermore, my improved apparatus produces a complete defibered pulp, i. e. a finished pulp practically free of fish eyes, slivers, lumps,

of other defects, as the necessary result of practically any degree of finishing treatment suflicient or suitable for paper making purposes. Pulp defects of this kind, according toknown paper mill practice, are avoided or disposed .of

only by long and most exacting and consequently expensive beater or equivalent treatment. Some other advantages among many residing in the defibering capabilities of my apparatus are that the pulp may be finished with less prolonged previous cooking and, under proper conditions, broke may be refinished after a simple breaker treatment instead of rerouting it through beat ers or other time and power consuming devices.

Numerous other advantages and beneficial re-- its peripheral surface extending across and closing said inner opening and with its end surface free running and extending across a portion of said end opening, a stator mounted in said stator compartment, and means for retaining said stator in adjustable material treating relation to the rotor.

2. In stuff treatment apparatus, the combination of a casing including a rotor chamber having end openings and a stator compartment arranged contiguous to a portion of said rotor chamber and presenting an inner opening between said chamber and said compartment, a rotor mounted in the rotor-chamber and with its peripheral surface extending across and closing said inner opening and with its end surface free running and exposed toward said and opening, a stator mounted in said stator compartment, means for retaining said stator in adjustable material treating relation to the rotor, and material impeding means effectively positioned between the stator and portions of the casing adjacent thereto and cooperating therewith to prevent leakage of untreated material past the treatment zone between the sides of the stator and said portions of the casing.

3. In stuff treatment apparatus, the combination of a casing including a rotor chamber having end openings and a stator compartment arranged contiguous to a portion of said rotor chamber and presenting an inner opening between said chamber and said compartment, a rotor mounted in the rotor chamber and with its peripheral surface extending across and closing said inner opening and with its end surface free running and exposed toward said end opening, a stator mounted in said stator compartment, means for retaining said stator in adjustable material treating relation to the'rotor, and counter-pressure producing means effectively positioned between adjacent surfaces of the 'rotor and of the casing whereby leakage of material out of the stator compartment is substantially prevented.

4. Stuff treatment apparatus for paper pulp or other material comprising a casing with inlet and outlet ports, a rotor mounted to rotate in the casing and having its working face on its periphery, independent stators in the casing movable toward and away from the working face of the rotor, fluid pressure means connected with the stators to move the stators toward and away from the rotor, and means cooperating between the rotor periphery and said casing to arrest leakage of material from between the rotor and said stators.

5. Stuff treatment apparatus for paper pulp or other material comprising a casing with inlet and outlet ports, a rotor mounted to rotate in the casing and having its working face on its periphery, independent stators in the casing movable toward and away from the working face of the rotor, fluid pressure means connected with the stators to move the stators toward and away from, the rotor, and means'cooperating between the stators and the casing to arrest leakage of material past the stators.

6. Stuff treatment apparatus for paper pulp or other material comprising a casing with inlet from the rotor, and means cooperating between adjacent stators to arrest leakage of material between said stators.

7. In stuff treatment apparatus, the combination of a casing having walls adapted to form a rotor chamber and a stator compartment, a rotor mounted in the rotor chamber, and a stator adjustably mounted in the stator compartment between opposed walls thereof and in operative relation to the rotor, said stator having detents positioned to intercept particles of material between said walls and the stator to arrest leakage of untreated material between the stator and the walls adjacent thereto.

8. Stud treatment apparatus comprising a stator supporting frame provided with a rotor receiving opening, a rotor mounted in said opening with its end faces free running, said rotor having grooves insaid end faces opening into the peripheral surface of the rotor, and a ring secured to said frame spaced from each of said I 9. Stuff treatment apparatus comprising a stator supporting frame provided with a rotor receiving opening, a rotor mounted in said opening, a plurality of stators mounted on the frame and arranged radially around said rotor periphery with a side face of one stator in contact with a side face of another, said side faces being provided with undercut grooves arranged to intercept material between said faces and thus to form a barrier of material to oppose further leakage thereof.

10. Stuff treatment apparatus comprising a stator supporting frame provided with a rotor receiving opening, a rotor mounted in said opening, a plurality of stators mounted on the frame with their end faces bearing against portions of said frame, said end faces being provided with undercut grooves arranged to intercept material and thus to form a barrier between said frame and said end faces to oppose leakage of material.

11. In material treating apparatus, the combination of a casing having a central rotor chamber and spaced walls forming a treating compartment peripherally arranged in relation to said chamber and provided with an opening connecting the treating compartment with the rotor chamber, a rotor operatively supported in the rotor chamber with its periphery extending across and closing said opening, a stator adjustably mounted in said compartment between said walls and cooperating with the peripheral surface of the rotor through said opening to form a treatment zone, and material intercepting detents located in the stator side walls and operative in the space between said stator and portions of the treating compartment walls adjacent thereto and adapted to intercept material and accumulate a mass thereof extending across said space to prevent untreated material from by-passing the treatment zone.

12. Apparatus for treating material in liquid form or carried in a liquid medium comprising a high speed rotor, a stator positioned in adjustable relation thereto, a casing for the stator and the rotor provided with partitions cooperating with the peripheral surface of the rotor to form a treating compartment having an inlet port at the inlet end of the stator and an outlet port at the outlet end of said stator, whereby material to be treated is first admitted through said inlet port, passes through the treatment zone with and in the direction of rotation of the rotor and is then discharged through said outlet port, and further characterized in that counterpressure producing means are'efiectively positioned between adjacent surfaces of the rotor and of the partitions whereby leakage of the material out of the treating compartment is substantially prevented.

13. In material treating apparatus, the combination of a casing having a central rotor chamber and a treating compartment peripherally arranged in relation to said chamber and provided with an opening connecting the treating compartment with the rotor chamber, a rotor operatively supported in the rotor chamber with its periphery extending across said treating compartment, a stator in said treating compartment cooperating with the peripheral surface of the rotor through said opening to form a treatment zone, means for admitting material to the treating compartment under pressure, and counterpressure producing means interposed between the periphery of said rotor and said overlapped edge portions of said treating compartment to arrest leakage of material from the treating compartment into the rotor chamber.

14. In material treating apparatus, the combination of a. casing having a treating compartment, a rotor chamber, and an opening between said chamber and said compartment, a rotor mounted in the rotor chamber and having edge portions of its surface overlapping edge portions of said opening, means positioned and adapted to induce a counter-pressure between said rotor and said edge portions of said opening to arrest leakage of material from the treating compartment to the rotor chamber, and a stator mounted in the treating compartment in effective working relation to the rotor.

15. In material treating apparatus, the combination of a casing, a rotor presenting a peripheral working surface and free running end faces, said casing having walls cooperating with edge portions of said working surface and defining a treating compartment arranged peripherally in relation to the rotor and opening upon the rotor working surface, a stator positioned in said treating compartment and adjustably spaced from and cooperating with the rotor to form a treatment zone, an inlet port at the inlet end of the zone for admitting material thereto under pressure, an outlet port at the outlet end of the zone, counter-pressure producing means interposed between the rotor and said portions of the treating compartment to resist leakage of material from said compartment, and material intercepting detents located in the stator side walls and operative in spaces between the stator and said treating compartment walls to accumulate a mass of intercepted material in said spaces for preventing material from by-passing said treatment zone.

16. Apparatus for treating material in liquid form or carried in a liquid medium comprising a high speed rotor, a stator positioned in adjustable relation thereto to form a treatment zone therewith, a casing having portions cooperating with the rotor to form a treating compartment having an inlet port and an outlet port whereby material to be treated is first admitted through said inlet port, passes throughthe treatment zone with and'in the direction of rotation of the rotor and is then discharged through said outlet port, and material impeding means effectively positioned between the stator and portions of the casing adjacent thereto and cooperating therewith to prevent leakage of untreated material past the treatment zone between sides of the stator and said casing.

17. Instufi treatment apparatus, the combination of a casing, a rotor presenting a peripheral surface and free running end faces, said casing having walls cooperating with edge portions of said surface and defining a compartment arranged peripherally in relation to the rotor and opening upon said rotor surface, a stator posi-' tioned in said compartment and adjustably spaced from and cooperating with the rotor to form a treatment zone, means for feeding material thereto under pressure, counter-pressure producing means interposed between the rotor periphcry and edge portions of the compartment wall to resist leakage of material from said compartment, and material intercepting detents operative in spaces between the stator and said com-.

partment wall to accumulate a mass of inter cepted material in said spaces for preventing material from by-passing the treatment zone.

18. In stuff treatment apparatus, the combination of a rotor, a feed chamber opening upon a segment of the peripheral surface of the rotor,

a stator mount-ed to form a stuff treatment zone with said peripheral surface, a discharge chamber at the discharge end of said zone, a partition between said inlet chamber and said discharge chamber and having a portion spaced from and overlying a portion of the rotor, and a drain passageway in said partition communicating with the space between the rotor and the partition.

CHARLES P. TOLMAN. I 

